Joey Gallo connects for home run number 39, and for a brief shining moment the Rangers held the lead.

The Rangers have lost a lot of different ways this season—bad bullpen or bad offense being the chief culprits—but their defense has been pretty good. Especially considering Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor came into 2017 with a reputation for having gloves of lead.

And even though Odor is, this season, once again statistically among the worst defensive second basemen in baseball, he hasn’t been a game-costing defensive liability.

But tonight, defense, or lack thereof, was the culprit. With critical errors by Elvis and by Will Middlebrooks, the Rangers gave up seven unearned runs in the fourth inning. That almost equals the amount of total runs (eight) they themselves have scored in the past five games.

You have to applaud them for finding a different way to lose.

Blaming it on their woeful offense was getting boring.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Dallas Keuchel (13-5, 2.96) vs. Cole Hamels (11-4, 3.80)
Game time: 7:05

How the Astros hit against Hamels.
How the Rangers hit against Keuchel.